Weekly Round Up: 1/3/2020

At Greenspring we believe in venture capital's ability to propel innovation, job creation and positive societal change. We celebrate those who think differently, take measured risk and challenge perceptions. Here's what's trending in VC this week:

Accel India, based in Bangalore, India, is a venture capital firm that focuses on seed and early stage investments. The Firm targets companies across a broad range of information technology and healthcare sectors, including software, consumer, ecommerce, cloud and medical devices. Founders Fund, based in San Francisco, California, is a multi-strategy, multi-sector venture capital firm focused on investing in transformational businesses that create or capture substantial markets by achieving major scientific and engineering advances.

We also welcomed Flynn Restaurant Group to the Greenspring portfolio. The Company is the largest franchise operator and one of the twenty largest food service companies in the United States, operating a total of over 1,200 restaurants, including Applebee’s, Taco Bell, Panera and Arby’s.

Portfolio News:

2020 has finally arrived and Greenspring primary manager OpenView is breaking down the SaaS trends you need to know for the new year! Read more here.

Greenspring primary manager High Alpha hosts a monthly speaker series to bring in experts with different perspectives, experiences and knowledge. Curious what comes from these events? You can check out the top 10 lessons from their 2019 series here.

“Seattle is experiencing an uptick in VC interest in what could be a sign the town is finally reaching its full potential.” Great article highlighting the increase of Seattle startups and PNW VCs, such as Greenspring primary manager Pioneer Square Labs, whose studio model helped spin-out modern immigration company Boundless. Read more here.

It was an eventful year for open source. If you need help making sense of what went down read this great blog post from Greenspring primary manager Scale Venture Partners.

“Carlson’s groundbreaking idea when she launched Guild four years ago: help companies offer education benefits that employees will actually use.” Great profile on Rachel Carlson, CEO of Guild Education, backed by Greenspring primary managers Bessemer Venture Partners and Redpoint Ventures. Read the full article here.

Greenspring portfolio company MoneyLion shared some exciting news with the launch of zero commission fractional stock-trading. MoneyLion, which is also backed by Greenspring primary manager Edison Partners, is a mobile personal finance platform empowering consumers to take control of their financial lives.

"Small businesses are core to the US economy. Over 30M small businesses employ nearly 60M people in the US or 47.5% of the private workforce.” Ashley Braiser of Greenspring primary manager Lightspeed Venture Partners unpacks industries ripe for “Business in a Box” disruption in this interesting blog post.

It was a busy year for Greenspring primary manager True Ventures! Check out their 2019 Year in Review, which highlights the many accomplishments of their founders in 2019 and more.

The content here is for informational purposes only and should NOT be taken as legal, business, tax, or investment advice. It does NOT constitute an offer or solicitation to purchase any investment or a recommendation to buy or sell a security. In fact, the content is not directed to any investor or potential investor and may not be used to evaluate or make any investment.